How to become a successful business coach

Managers are increasingly realizing that new approaches are needed to successfully motivate people and teams under today's conditions. The pure orientation on leadership methods has reached its limits - this classic approach does not address the employee enough. At the same time, people today increasingly want to work in a meaningful way. Employers should take this into account when it comes to cleverly deploying people in the company. One approach that can help is business coaching. But how do you become a successful business coach?

How do you motivate people? That's what bosses have been asking ever since companies have existed. And over the centuries, a clear change has taken place: In the very past, people worked primarily under duress and pressure to avoid starving. Today, by contrast, good people can choose their employers and increasingly demand meaningfulness and self-fulfillment.

The old leadership methods have had their day

Those who adhere to conventional leadership principles may have one or two goal-setting meetings a year. Sometimes even the employee's wishes are discussed. But above all, it's about setting an example: Many bosses actually think that they only have to demonstrate their own enthusiasm to their team so that the people in the team think: "Cool, I want to be like that too. Then they set up a foosball table and hand out fruit and think that the employees are now happy.

Yes, in the nineties this was still the hit. But today? Real top performers play foosball sometimes, sure. But more than anything, they want to work at it. They want to contribute to something that has meaning. Even the classic separation of work and leisure is no longer part of their mindset. The truly sought-after professionals don't want to live a life where they waste a third of their lives at a job they don't enjoy. And that's why companies need new approaches.

Business coaching would be one of them. This is because the nature of coaching makes it much easier to fathom and win over people than traditional leadership methods. Leadership is often purely task-oriented and looks at how employees with their individual characteristics fit in underneath. Business coaching, on the other hand, starts with people. If you want to attract good people, you should also let them have a say in how they want to work. And get them to make the right decisions themselves in the interests of the company.

Business coaching causes self-activation

Coaching is a concept that motivates people sustainably from within themselves. Ultimately, it is about a goal-oriented, structured conversation that ensures that the coachee ends up doing something different and thus improves his or her Goals achieved. Ultimately, it is also a way of translating the claims of leadership into reality.

Seven tips to become a business coach

Only: How does that work? What should you be able to do to become a business coach? Here are seven tips:

1. Be able to change perspectives. This means not only empathy - that is, the ability to understand the feelings of the person you are talking to. But it is also about understanding the concrete situation of the other person exactly - his thoughts, his views, his experiences.
2. Always have the company's goals in mind. Business Coaching does not mean that decisions in the company become arbitrary. Business coaching should have the effect that, as far as possible, everyone can contribute with full strength and from their own conviction to the Corporate goals contribute. That's why you should know these goals.
3. Learn the technique of asking the right questions. There are open and closed questions, leading questions ... - in short: lots of them. Business coaching means that you bring your counterpart to an insight by asking questions. That's why you should learn how to ask questions.
4. Communicate wisely. In addition to asking questions, you should also communicate wisely overall - that is, engaging and solution-oriented. Don't dramatize, don't go crazy, don't stray from the essentials. So: A level-headed and results-oriented way of dealing with information - whether it suits you or not - is important for any business coach.
5. Understand behavioral changes. The brain has a rational part that possibly knows exactly that we should do something differently. But it also has an emotional part that manages habits and doesn't like to give them up - no matter how pointless or harmful they are. People only change a behavior when they store the new concept as a habit. As business coach you should know how to do this - so getting to grips with the basics of neuroscience is essential.
6. Learn to persuade. There are reasons for decisions or even for changes of mind. Who does not know these reasons, does not decide or cannot be convinced. But since you know the mentioned parts of the brain, you know: It's not just about reason. We can present someone with the best rational arguments - if his inner self is against it, he will not be convinced. As a business coach, you can convince people in such a way that you reach both of these parts of the brain.
7. Be with yourself. In order to specifically support others to make the right decisions for themselves, you should above all also make the right decisions for yourself. And this should be visible for everyone. To be at peace with yourself means: no permanent construction sites, but clarified circumstances. No burn-out or bore-out, but wise handling of stress. No unhealthy life, but healthy life. As a business coach you master these things.

We at Greator are convinced: Business Coaching will become the next big topic in companies. It affects leadership, results, numbers. And on employer attractiveness. When companies today consider how to attract and retain desirable people, they can't avoid business coaching.